Columbia Law School is set to host an event featuring Wesam Ahmad, an advocate known for his anti-Israel stance, who is affiliated with an organization that Israel has labeled a terrorist group due to its purported connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a militant organization.
Ahmad is an official of Al Haq, a nonprofit group leading the anti-Semitic movement to boycott Israel. The event, scheduled for Tuesday, was advertised in a flyer obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, where Ahmad is expected to discuss "international law as applied to Palestine."
The event is being sponsored by Columbia Law Students for Palestine, Columbia Law Students Human Rights Association, and the Progressive Jewish Law Society. This comes at a time when Columbia University is under investigation by the Education Department for a series of anti-Semitic incidents, including a law school student shouting anti-Semitic slurs at a classmate wearing a yarmulke. Last year, at least 20 Jewish students at Columbia accused the university of failing to act against anti-Semitism, following an increase in hate speech sparked by Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Earlier this week, Columbia students held a pro-Hamas rally on campus, calling for an "intifada" in New York City. Earlier in the month, Barnard College, a part of Columbia University, defended its decision to invite Hatem Bazian, a professor known for his pro-terrorist views and calls for the destruction of Israel and intifada in the United States, to its "Day of Dialogue."
The upcoming event featuring Ahmad has already drawn criticism from Jewish advocacy groups, who view Al Haq as a significant player in the anti-Israel movement. In October 2021, the Israeli government designated Al Haq as a "terror organization," alleging it to be part of a network of organizations operating on behalf of the Popular Front, which the United States also considers a foreign terrorist organization.
Miriam Elman, executive director for the Academic Engagement Network, expressed concern over Columbia Law School hosting Ahmad while a newly established campus anti-Semitism group, Law Students Against Anti-Semitism, is struggling to gain approval. The group was denied approval by the law school's student senate on January 23.
Elman stated, "Its quite ironic, and frankly very disturbing, that a new club to combat anti-Semitism is being silenced while a representative of a group that has documented ties to terror is being given a prominent voice." She added, "Ahmad is being invited by student clubs to speak at the same time as a club devoted to educating about anti-Semitism is denied the right to a platform. This double standard is both wrong and outrageous. Columbia's Law School should ensure that the new group Law Students Against Anti-Semitism is approved as soon as possible."
Ahmad has previously described Israel as "a colonial project from the very beginning," a phrase often used by the anti-Israel left to undermine the existence of the Jewish state, according to NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that tracks nonprofits. Ahmad has also supported boycotts against Israel to undermine the country's economic growth.
Following Hamas's terror rampage through Israel on October 7, Al Haq, Ahmad's group, has been accused of promoting "extremist demonization of Israel" and "blatant rank anti-Semitism," according to NGO Monitor. The watchdog group reported in December that "Al-Haq has used the rhetoric of resistance and resistance fighterscode for targeting any and all Israelis, including civilians," and that some Al-Haq officials have openly defended and supported terrorism.
Less than a week after the Hamas attacks, Al-Haq signed a joint statement justifying the attacks and claiming that "Hamas and other Palestinian resistance movements are the product of Israels aggressive occupation."
In late October, Susan Power, Al-Haqs head of legal research and advocacy, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that "there is an international law right to resist [sic]," a statement critics interpreted as justification for the Hamas attack.
Aseel Al-Bajeh, a legal researcher for the group, stated in October: "We dont need to speak of our right to resist, for it is not a right, but a way of being & survival for Palestinians."
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